So he dismounted, calling the soldier to him and asking in a whisper: "Mock, you were simply a poor, shirking soldier, weren't you?
You are, at heart, loyal to your country's Flag, aren't you ?" "I'd die for the Stars and Stripes, sir!" Mock declared, in a voice choked with emotion.
"But I felt tired, the other day, and I got a notion Captain Holmes was down on me.

So I went bad and got busted.

Then I hated Captain Holmes, sir, and ached for a chance to get square with him.

Then that accursed carpenter fellow hunted me out, talked with me, and made me think he was my friend.

If I had known he was a Kaiser-hound I'd have split his head open at the first crack out of the box." "I didn't doubt you as a loyal man, Mock," Dick continued, in a whisper.